An interview with Marc B from Salesforce on his new book… I read an early draft and thought it was the ideal “start-up bible”. A brilliant read from a brilliant guy.

Although the irony that  a book about the cloud, isn’t available through the cloud, isn’t lost on me… please make this available on the Kindle…

I like the thinking here… And this struck me as a pretty good model for thinking about measurement:

From the WSJ… “Little wonder that while email continues to grow, other types of communication services are growing far faster. In August 2009, 276.9 million people used email across the U.S., several European countries, Australia and Brazil, according to Nielsen Co., up 21% from 229.2 million in August 2008. But the number of users on social-networking and other community sites jumped 31% to 301.5 million people.”

Apparently PR does matter to journalists…

I haven’t received a single personal note from a Microsoft PR person for roughly four years. Instead, the company has taken to sending out very lengthy and somewhat boring cheerleader-type consumer newsletters to the media in an attempt to keep us informed. It’s essentially spam with lots of links and no real compelling content, which seems to be the work of someone who has recently finished taking English as a Second Language courses.

I wouldn’t draw any conclusions on MSFT’s marketing effectiveness until post launch. Windows 7 is stunning. Office 10 is even better.

Not sure if this has merit or not but its a pretty gutsy move – and if nothing else, burns the bridges once and for all with Gartner for ZL.

If nothing else, ZL’s case encapsulates the immense frustration so many have felt for so long with the entire MQ process. And, the smaller you are, the more heightened that frustration. Some interesting commentary here on the MQ process.

But I do think much of that frustration has to do with folks willingness to engage with Gartner and invest in AR. My view on the MQ has always been:

• your position reflects both your expertise in influencing and the data you are willing to present
• an open dialog and investment in that dialog works wonders. I’m not talking money here – I’m talking time and attention.
• most of the Gartner analysts are pretty smart people. Whether you disagree or agree, it’s in your interests to listen, replay what you heard and show a willingness to at least incorporate some of their feedback. They are human. They like to be stroked.
• it is less “pay-to-play” and more just “play”. Don’t make influencing Gartner be about a single briefing. You need a game-plan.
• Gartner own the market. Get over it. This is an opportunity.

Are there things I wish Gartner would do differently – sure. For instance, I do think they should have an independent ombudsman. This would only boost perceptions of their integrity and allow a better process for fixing wrongs. Nobody is perfect.